Chapter Text
Idia moaned as he slouched toward his cosy corner of the library, every single bruise that he had sustained in physical education class aching with every step. His legs felt like jelly and lead at the same time. His palms still smarted where he’d had to shield his face from a rogue ball. He legit didn’t even know what game they’d just played. Basketball? Dodgeball? Deathball?
Seriously. Idia hoped everyone else got their love of running in circles and getting pointlessly sweaty outta their system. By the second quarter, he’d done enough laps of that court that he almost threw up.
And of all the people that had to see him gagging and dry-retching into a bucket at the side of the benches, Leona Kingscholar had happened to walk past right at that moment, late for their joint PE class as usual.
“Ugh, don’t look, don’t look-” Idia had babbled, while his stomach kept heaving and at the same time bringing nothing up. Leona scoffed as he sat down beside him, not sounding nearly as scornful as Idia might’ve imagined.
“Tch. D’you think I haven’t been there myself, Radish Sprout?” Leona asked, cocking an eyebrow and making clear it would take a lot more than Idia spitting up his entire constitution to phase him. “Here. You’re shaking.”
And then, like it was nothing at all, he cracked open the bottle of water he was carrying and passed it to Idia, then took the bucket and held it for him. Literally held the bucket for Idia to be sick into.
Remembering it now made Idia want to crawl directly into his beanbag and perish. Which was exactly what he attempted as he flopped face-first into the patchwork cushions. Disastrous. Soul-destroying. Mortifying. He was never going to live this down.
Like the universe was deliberately trying to finish him off, someone had left something on his beanbag that happened to remind him of Leona even more. It looked to be a collection of pages, bound roughly with a strap of woven flax. The woven tie looked a lot like the one he always saw Leona wearing around his wrist.
Idia didn’t even wanna think about why he noticed stuff like that.
Still feeling terribly sorry for himself, Idia shuffled around to lay on his back, picking up the handmade book. It had been put together with a number of blank pages that looked torn from the backs of different old tomes.
On the makeshift front page was a handwritten note: Here. Don’t complain later.
Caught off guard, Idia snorted an incoherent sound. What the heck kinda title was that?? Emotional vulnerability really did look different in the wild. A trembling smile tugged at the corners of his mouth anyway. Flowing, cursive letters that slanted heavily across the page, elegant in a way that felt almost careless. The sight of his mystery nap partner’s handwriting made something in Idia’s chest squeeze tight.
Either that, or he was still having heart palpitations from the horror-personified activity that was Team Sport. Idia swallowed tentatively, turning the page.
First: A spell to clean up, zero effort.
Idia stifled another croaky laugh. Okay, whoever wrote this definitely wasn’t into long explanations. He had no idea what it meant. Clean… the room? A practical magic spell? But this was the same guy who always left his blanket in a rumpled mess. Idia’s instinct said that wasn’t it.
He also found himself trying the incantation anyway, implicitly trusting that it wasn’t something bad.
As soon as Idia spoke the chant, he felt a ripple of magic tingle over his whole body. The sticky, sweaty feeling that his brief shower in the gym hadn’t cured instantly evaporated. He felt completely clean.
“Whaa??” Idia blurted, stunned at both the simplicity and efficacy of the spell. And this was a spell this dude just made up? Whoever he was, he was no amateur.
Second: A spell for summer.
Idia whispered the chant under his breath, his curiosity well and truly piqued. In the moments that followed, Idia began to hear the distant hum of crickets, the gentle wisp of wind through long grass.
“Did this guy seriously just invent a single-application surround sound spell, with zero casting conditions??" Idia yelped, deeply impressed. He listened to the sounds of a gentle summer night in the wilderness, strangely comforted.
Third: Yeah, yeah. Just cast it. A spell for indoor campfires.
Idia felt his grin spreading over his face, his tiredness slowly seeping away. He uttered the chant, and, ever so gradually, the faint scent of a bonfire crept around him, touched with the sweetness of roasted sweet potato and marshmallow. The charm only lingered for a few seconds, but there was something so deeply home-like about the scent of campfire food. Even if Idia’s own home couldn’t have been more different, he felt like he’d maybe had a glimpse of something briefly nostalgic, something cherished.
Fourth: You’ll need water for this one. A spell for late nights.
Fortunately, Idia still had the bottle of water Leona had given him. He hadn’t dared to drink any in front of his fellow third year in case it immediately came back up again.
Idia cast the spell over Leona’s water bottle, watching in fascination as colour spiralled into the liquid in mesmerising patterns, finally turning to a rich red tea. Idia sipped from the bottle, his eyes welling up nonsensically as the tea tasted sweet and calming and refreshing, soothing away his nerves.
It really had been a day.
Fifth: Last one. Haven’t fully got it worked out yet. It’s a spell if you like your hair being petted, I guess. If you don’t like being touched, I’d just leave it.
Idia blinked, reading and re-reading the line, then inwardly melting. Yep, this goopy, heart-lifting feeling he was currently experiencing was definitely feels rather than nausea. His hair being petted? Except before the word ‘hair’, there was a word heavily scribbled out.
And even if Idia wasn’t already the genius decoder he obviously was… that scribbled-out word looked a lot like ‘ears’.
His mystery nap partner liked his ears being petted. Idia read out the incantation, stuttering a few times from sheer giddy happiness. This was cute. Whoever this was, he was adorable.
The spell did ruffle the top of his hair, making it spark and static, but Idia liked the sensation enough to try it several more times. Okay, maybe ten. Er, make that fifteen.
By the time Idia finished reading the book, the overwhelm of PE class had faded and the embarrassment became more of a distant cringe. Whoever wrote these didn’t even know Idia had a bad day, and had wanted to make him feel lighter anyway.
And these weren’t just any old spells. They felt well-worn, personal.
Idia gently ran his finger over the trailing loops of his nap partner’s handwriting once again.
He wanted to give something of himself back too.
-
Lying half-asleep in his bedroom, Leona reached a hand toward his smartphone. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d ever posted a message in the dorm leaders’ group chat, let alone checked the damn thing voluntarily.
But he can’t shake the image of Ignihyde’s housewarden coughing and wheezing in the corner of the gym, reduced to pathetic misery because he apparently hadn’t ever jogged a step in his life.
Not my problem. His own fault, Leona thought.
But he found himself checking the group chat anyway. The last post was from a few days ago, and happened to be from Idia. Leona propped himself up on his elbow, restless.
Hey, he typed into the chat. You good now?
He dropped the phone back beside him, closing his eyes. But it only took a few seconds before it softly buzzed with a reply.
Azul: I’m quite well this evening, why thank you for asking. And yourself?
Leona’s mouth curled in irritation. The hell was Ashengrotto responding to his message for? He swore he could hear amusement beneath the octopunk’s usual polished prose. Leona was still scowling when another reply popped up.
Vil: I’m also doing well, albeit busy. Delighted to receive your kind concern, Leona-san.
If there was anyone who knew how to push his buttons, it was Schoenheit. Before Leona could undercut him with an equally dry response-
Riddle and Malleus are typing…
Riddle: I’m in perfectly good health, thank you.
Malleus: You’re enquiring after my wellbeing, Kingscholar? What a pleasant surprise.
Not on your life, Leona growled in frustration. Another notification.
Kalim: Hi Leona! You know you can @ someone specifically in the group chat if you need to! I know you don’t post that often, and I’ve made that exact same mistake before, haha!
Kalim: I’m also good btw! :)
Leona massaged the wrinkle forming between his eyebrows, exhaling deeply. Just as he was considering throwing the device straight into the Savanaclaw fountain, the phone buzzed gently one last time. Yeah, techhead Idia was probably gonna get a kick out of this too, but whatever. If he wasn’t puking his guts up anymore, great.
Idia: well yknow. bleached my sports kit. deleted all footage from my brain permanently. managed to keep a smoothie down lol
Leona huffed quietly through his nose despite himself.
Idia: so yeah hp bar recovering
Idia: dignity debuff still active tho
The typing dots appeared again. Stopped. Appeared again. Leona found himself staring at them.
Idia is typing…
Idia: but welp thx for asking ;;
Leona gazed sleepily at the screen, another message appearing only a split second later.
Malleus: …so this wasn’t a group bonding activity?
Kalim: aw, this was nice! We should all check on each other more often!
Idia: WAIT WHY IS EVERYONE HERE???
Against all better judgement, Leona actually laughed at that one.
-